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Conservation geneticists apply genetic theory and techniques to preserve endangered species as dynamic entities, capable of coping with environmental change and thus minimizing their risk of extinction. Snow leopards are an umbrella species of High Asia, and a keystone for maintaining biodiversity within this fragile ecosystem. A clear understanding of patterns of snow leopard genetic diversity is critical for guiding conservation initiatives that will ensure their long-term persistence. Yet, a comprehensive analysis of snow leopard genetic variation is lacking. The number of published snow leopard genetic studies is far fewer than for other imperiled big cats. Here, I review the limited genetic work to date on snow leopards and the significant knowledge gaps to be filled. An emphasis must be placed on describing and understanding population genetic dynamics within and among meta-populations to provide information about the interactions between landscapes and the micro-evolutionary processes of gene flow and genetic drift. These results can be used to evaluate the levels and dynamics of genetic and demographic connectivity. A lack of connectivity, particularly in the low density, small populations that typify snow leopards, can lead to multiple demographic and genetic consequences, including inbreeding depression, loss of adaptive potential, and heightened susceptibility to demographic and environmental stochasticity. New efforts in conservation research on snow leopards should focus on this line of inquiry, and the opportunities and challenges for that are outlined and discussed to encourage the required, and considerable, transboundary partnerships and collaborations needed to be successful.

Rapid anthropogenic climate change and progressing habitat degradation are considered top threats to biodiversity. The employment of demanding umbrella species as indicators for ecosystem health is a popular and cost-effective strategy that facilitates continuous monitoring and evaluation within a long-term conservation management scheme. The Western Capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus) and the Black Grouse (Tetrao tetrix) are both considered viable candidates due to their extensive habitat requirements, the possibility for conservative, non-invasive sampling, and their broad popular appeal. Regional population surveys based on genetic data from Short Sequence Repeat (SSR) analysis are being conducted throughout the Palearctic. However, to ensure reliable comparability among laboratories, standardization is required. Here, we report a catalogue of fifty fully characterized reference alleles from twelve SSR loci and the construction of a customizable allelic ladder for genotyping and individualization in Western Capercaillie and Black Grouse. This methodological improvement will help to cost-efficiently generate and collate supraregional data from different grouse surveys and thereby contribute to conservation management. Reference alleles and ladders can be obtained on demand.

Systems thinking and attention to the relationships between a system’s variables on all spatial and temporal scales is an effective strategy in biological conservation and wildlife management. This study presents a case in a sensitive ecosystem to show how the future state of the jungle cat as an umbrella species depends on local, national, and international components. To this aim, all variables affecting the state of jungle cat were identified by an expert panel. Cross-impact analysis was applied to the identified variables in two stages using MICMAC, followed by Kane’s simulation (KSIM). The MICMAC method was used to detect the most important variables (i.e., variables with more influence and less dependency), and forecasting the future state of jungle cat was implemented by KSIM on variables screened by MICMAC. MICMAC showed that among the 22 identified variables, climate change, increased construction of dams in Afghanistan, water scarcity, and decline of agricultural lands under cultivation were the most important variables for management of jungle cat. KSIM showed declining trends for all variables in the future. Therefore, the predicted decreasing trend will continue as long as management remains unchanged on the local, national, and international scales.

Although bonefish, Albula vulpes, supports a culturally and socio-economically important recreational fishery in the Caribbean Sea, little is known about their population characteristics. Understanding their population parameters are important for the creation of a sustainable fishery strategy in the Caribbean region. We used multistate modeling to estimate apparent survival, recapture probability, and movement of bonefish in the regions of Corozal-Chetumal Bay (CB) and the adjacent Caribbean coast (CC) of Belize and Mexico. We marked 9657 bonefish and recaptured 613 (6.5% recapture rate). A total of 64 multistate models were run in program MARK. The model with the lowest Akaike Information Criterion was the most parsimonious model that supported our data: constant apparent survival in CC but variable in CB; time-dependent recapture probability in CC and CB; and time-dependent movement between regions. The latter reflects a seasonal migration from the bay to spawn in the Caribbean during the north-winds season. The seasonal differences in apparent survival (CC = 63.6% and CB = 80.6%) and recapture probability (CC = 1.3% and CB =11.1%) are associated to spawning mortality, a post-spawning relocation, ontogenetic shift, predation, angling activities, site fidelity or a combination of these. These findings reinforces the association of environmental variables influenced by weather patterns with movement patterns, the entire region to be considered a single geographic catchment area necessary to sustain a local bonefish population and the need for a paradigm shift from a traditional to a new system of fisheries conservation and management using bonefish as an umbrella species.

Umbrella, flagship and keystone species are among the most widely employed surrogate species concepts. We explored whether these concepts are useful for understanding the consequences of landscape change. We assessed the literature on surrogate species in relation to landscape change and identified key foci and notable gaps within the existing evidence base. We outlined strengths and limitations of surrogate species as proxies for landscape change. We found that few studies evaluated whether taxa claimed to be surrogate species were in fact robust proxies. This is particularly so for flagship species but is also common in work on umbrella species. We also found marked differences in how the terms and concepts of umbrella, flagship and keystone species were used, both between studies and between disciplines (e.g. forestry versus community ecology). Research into surrogates is often conducted independently of research on landscape change. This leaves a major gap in knowledge about how surrogates can inform decision-making in relation to ongoing threatening processes, including landscape change. Based on results of our literature search and insights from large-scale, long-term empirical studies in south-eastern Australia, we identified a diverse mix of examples where the application of surrogate approaches has been successful, and where it has not. However, it is currently not possible to determine a priori where a given surrogate approach will work. Resolution of this problem requires considerable further work. Surrogates should be used in a critical way to help avoid mistakes in resource and biodiversity management.

Nestedness patterns including both artificial and natural habitat may represent evidence of such habitats’ importance in community assembly and conservation of animals inhabiting those sites. Odonata often colonize drinking troughs (artificial water reservoirs) and thus they are good study models as umbrella species. We investigated if a network of artificial (troughs) and natural (pools) aquatic habitats could create a nested subset pattern for Odonata assemblages. We surveyed all the troughs present in the Castelporziano Estate (Italy, Lazio). Odonata larvae have been collected and identified. Data of a previous paper on 18 natural pools and ponds, and our samplings of 16 troughs were organized into a presence-absence matrix. The Odonata assemblage within natural and artificial habitats is significantly nested with both NODF and T metrics. Odonata species found in the troughs represented 40% of the total species pool. Some troughs interspersed with the natural pools in the nested order: eight troughs were richer in species than some natural pools, despite the big difference in surface area. Pristine water bodies and their area may not represent major constraints for species to oviposit and for larvae to grow. Drinking troughs can be highly relevant for representing refuges in the absence or decline of natural ponds and pools: lacking in top-predators (fishes), they are small “island” habitats that support the generations of Odonata (or other aquatic macroinvertebrates) during dry periods of natural water bodies. The use and focused management of such habitats can be an effective practice for freshwater ecosystems management and Odonata conservation.

A major concern in conservation biology today is the loss of genetic diversity in structured populations, which is often a consequence of habitat contraction and restricted gene flow over time. These dynamic biological processes require monitoring with temporal environmental and landscape genetic data. We compared the spatial genetic variation of a relict, umbrella species, the capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus), in two different demographic periods, as represented by older museum specimens (1960–1990) and recent non-invasive samples (2011–2015) collected from the Carpathian Mountains, where habitat connectivity has dramatically decreased in the past decade. Using a combination of species distribution modelling and spatial genetic inference, we analysed how climatic and environmental constraints shaped population structures of the species. Environmental and climate niche models confirmed that relict Carpathian capercaillie populations are temperature sensitive, and they occur in a narrow range of mountain forest habitats at the highest altitudes. We found that the environmental and climatic constraints led to genetically isolated populations, but we also detected clusters that did not match relatively interrupted areas of niche habitats. We observed a similar disruption of gene flow in both periods; however, a stronger signal of genetic structuring in recent samples indicated that the processes negatively affecting connectivity are ongoing. The effective population size of the Carpathian population has declined in recent years, but it has been low for at least the last five decades in the Western Carpathians. This study demonstrates the importance of temporal ecological and genetic data as an effective warning tool for the conservation and management of wildlife species.

The ecology of invertebrate steppe species requiring active conservation management has not been explored enough. Stenobothrus eurasius is a characteristic steppe species occurring very frequently in the Siberian and Central Asian grasslands, although on the western edge of its area it is present in small, isolated, endangered relict populations. We examined populations and habitats of St. eurasius in the Pannonian vegetation region to (1) seek predictor variables of its density and (2) explore potentially successful conservation management practices which could be used generally on declining steppe relict species. Our results showed that robust populations of St. eurasius are found in short, edaphic, relict steppe grasslands in which the proportion of coarse sand in the soil is high and which are free of significant disturbance by game (specifically by wild boar). According to our study, the most important approach for the enhancement of declining marginal populations of St. eurasius, existing as an umbrella species of steppe relicts, is to reduce individual numbers of game (mainly wild boar and mouflon) which have increased tenfold regionally in the last few decades (or at least to exclude them from the most vulnerable patches).

A comprehensive understanding of how rapidly changing environments affect species gene flow is critical for mitigating future biodiversity losses. While recent methodological developments in landscape ecology and genetics have greatly advanced our understanding of biodiversity conservation, they are rarely combined and applied in studies. We merged multifaceted landscape habitat modelling with genetics to detect and design biological corridors, and we evaluated the importance of habitat patches to test corridor efficacy for gene flow in a fragmented landscape. We examined an isolated population of an endangered umbrella species, the capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus), in the Western Carpathians; they have experienced habitat deterioration and accompanying population declines in recent decades. To detect spatial patterns of genetic distances, we combined and optimized resistance surfaces using species distribution modelling, structural and functional connectivity analyses, multivariate regression approaches, and Moran’s eigenvector maps at hierarchical scales. Larger habitat patches had better gene flow among them, and we confirmed a broken metapopulation network characterised by a pattern of isolation by the environment. Distance to human settlements explained landscape genetic patterns better than other environmental and landscape features, MaxEnt resistance, Conefor resistance surfaces, and the pairwise Euclidean distances among individuals. The closer individuals were to settlements, the more pronounced were the effects of logging and other negative factors on their connectivity. Merging multifaceted landscape habitat modelling with genetics can effectively test corridor efficacy for gene flow, and it represents a powerful tool for conservation of endangered species.

The umbrella approach applied to landscape connectivity is based on the principle that the conservation or restoration of the dispersal habitats for some species also can facilitate the movement of others. Species traits alone do not seem to be enough to identify good connectivity umbrella species, showing the need to investigate the influence of additional factors on this property. We test whether the potential of a species as a connectivity umbrella can be influenced by landscape composition and configuration. We simulated movement routes for eight hypothetical species in artificial patchy landscapes with different levels of fragmentation, habitat amount and matrix permeability. We determined the effectiveness of the connectivity umbrella of the virtual species using pairwise intersections of important habitats for their movements in all landscapes. The connectivity umbrella performance of all species was affected by the interaction of fragmentation level and habitat amount. In general, species performance increased with decreasing fragmentation and increasing habitat amount. In most landscapes and considering the same dispersal threshold, species able to move more easily through the matrix showed higher umbrella performance than those for which the matrix offered greater resistance. The connectivity umbrella is not a static feature that depends only on the species traits, but rather a dynamic property that also varies according to the landscape attributes. Therefore, we do not recommend spatial transferability of the connectivity umbrella species identified in a landscape to others that have divergent levels of fragmentation and habitat quantity.

Fragmentation and habitat loss pose major threats to global biodiversity. Especially forest dwelling species with small ranges and high habitat specialisation are affected by ongoing land use change. Building projects for infrastructural purposes, expanding settlements, and extensive agricultural areas are assumed to have a high impact on these species. The European Habitat’s Directive aims to conserve and restore habitat networks to lower these impacts. We propose that the idea of securing habitat networks for protected species should be incorporated within large scale landscape planning e.g. by modelling and improving corridors for umbrella species. Within a Danish-German project we developed a model demonstrating potential connecting corridors for Muscardinus avellanarius, a specialised forest dwelling rodent species with low dispersal ability. We used presence data and eco-geographical variables to find a data based time-efficient procedure which may be applied also in other species for future landscape planning. The habitat suitability model shows that the hazel dormouse occupies a narrow niche with highly suitable habitats comprising edge habitats. It indicates the preference of forest patches, linear structures and networks of the mentioned habitats. Along with connectivity the diversity of suitable habitats diversity is the major factor predicting hazel dormouse presence. For conservation management, we calculated habitat corridors and highlight sections with missing connections. This allowed us to accentuate regions of high management interest. The results represent the foundation not only for this cross-border conservation project, but also for long-term dormouse conservation on a federal-state level.

Conservation of Canada’s boreal forest has been tied to various campaigns advocating specific area-based targets as part of a broader Systematic Conservation Planning (SCP) effort. Although target setting is an important component of SCP, it is known that the final outcomes of conservation plans are sensitive to the target chosen. There have been few systematic evaluations of how these outcomes change with targets. Here, we use distribution of terrestrial mammals in the Boreal Shield Ecozone of Canada to assess the effects of targets on conservation plans with individual sites that are predicted to be large enough to allow for species persistence. We examine three types of targets; percentage of landscape, percentage of umbrella species range, and minimum number of sites, to see how the final set (in terms of numbers of sites and percent of land) is affected and how well the final set represents the full suite of mammal species. We found a large discrepancy (164,000 km2) in the land required to achieve minimal representation targets depending on the target used. The minimum number of sites target was most efficient and required only 1.25% of the ecozone, while the smallest percentage target that could capture all species was 10%. The use of an umbrella species (caribou, Rangifer tarandas) range was the least effective target, as several species could not be represented at any percentage of the umbrella species range. Thus, conservation planners working in the boreal should be mindful of the impacts their targets have on the final design.

The dusky grouper is a large-bodied marine species usually associated with rocky substrates and reefs currently experiencing increasing anthropogenic pressures. Here, we critically evaluate studies conducted during the last few decades on this endangered species, focusing on its biology, ecology, behavior, stock structure and fisheries, and identify future research directions to fill current knowledge gaps. This species plays an important functional role in the rocky bottom habitats in which it lives, usually occupying the highest trophic levels and with the potential role as a keystone species in some ecosystems. It has a complex life cycle characterized by a high longevity, a slow growth rate and a monandric protogynous hermaphroditic mode of reproduction. The species also exhibits spawning aggregation behavior, which makes it more vulnerable to fishing activity. Aside from its ecological importance, this species has high commercial value for professional fishers and is also highly prized by recreational spearfishers. These biological features, associated with increasing fishing pressures throughout most of its geographical distribution, have led to Epinephelus marginatus being included since 2004 in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as Endangered. Despite a large amount of research being conducted on this species over the last five decades or so, using a number of different tools and techniques, key questions regarding its biology still remain unanswered. In terms of conservation and management plans designed to safeguard this endangered species, we identified the crucial need to improve fisheries landing statistics for the species and to increase the number of marine protected areas within its distribution beyond the Mediterranean Sea.

Biodiversity conservation requires an objective and consistent method for evaluating the conservation status of species. Conservation status assessments can identify conservation priorities and can highlight data gaps, effective conservation strategies, and groups of taxa that are underrepresented in conservation efforts relative to charismatic flagship and umbrella species. Groundwater invertebrates have a suite of traits that make them inherently vulnerable. But they go largely unnoticed by the general public and conservation practitioners, and comprehensive conservation status assessments are lacking for most species. In this article, the conservation status of all sixty-nine described groundwater-obligate invertebrates recorded from Texas, U.S.A. was assessed using NatureServe methodology. Some of the smallest taxa (e.g. copepods, ostracods, and mites) are too poorly known to evaluate their conservation status. Species restricted to springs were generally more at risk than species in other groundwater habitats, and beetles and snails were the most imperiled taxonomic groups. Most species faced low or medium severity threats, and only seven percent faced high or very high magnitude threats. Threat level varied among aquifers and among sites within aquifers and was primarily dependent on human population density and the adequacy of regulatory mechanisms protecting groundwater quality and quantity. Regardless of threat severity, fifty-five percent of evaluated species were ranked as imperiled or critically imperiled, largely due to extreme small-range endemism. Relative to other regions, Texas’ groundwater fauna is not unique in terms of rarity and threat, suggesting that as an ecological group, groundwater-obligate species are probably among the world’s most imperiled taxa.

The presence, diversity and abundance of non-native plant species in natural vegetation are common condition indicators used to determine conservation status, with consequences for management strategies and investment. The rationale behind non-native species metrics as condition indicators is the assumption that non-natives have negative consequences on native biodiversity and habitat condition. The case against non-native species is not so clear-cut, with some studies reporting neutral or even facilitative interactions, often depending on spatial scale. Observational and experimental evaluations of the impact of particular non-native species on biodiversity provide a vital evidence-base for general conservation management strategies. Unintentionally though, many studies that quantify the impacts of non-native species have resulted in a publication bias in which species with known impacts are selected for investigation far more often than benign species. Here we argue that meta-analyses of the impacts of individual non-native species on natives, no matter how meticulous or objective, should not be generalized beyond the set of ‘training’ species. The likelihood of such extrapolation is increased when meta-analyses are reported with little qualification as to the skewed sampling towards problematic species, and because alternative findings such as non-native assemblages having positive interactions with native biodiversity, are under-reported. To illustrate, we discuss two meta-analyses that make general conclusions from impact studies skewed towards ‘transformers’, the most extreme invaders. We warn that if generic non-native species management strategies were to be based on these conclusions, they could not only fail to meet objectives but in some instances harm native biodiversity., We thank the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network supported by the Australian Government through the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy.

Apex predators fulfil potentially vital ecological roles. Typically wide-ranging and charismatic, they can also be useful surrogates for biodiversity preservation, making their targeted conservation imperative. The Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya), an endangered, endemic sub-species, is the island’s apex predator. Of potential keystone importance, this carnivore also fulfills “umbrella” and “flagship” criterion and is of high ecological and existence value. Apex predator conservation requires identifying factors underlying distribution, so we used multi-scale maximum entropy modelling with sampling bias correction to investigate a broad suite of relevant ecological, climatic and anthropogenic factors in order to identify potentially suitable leopard habitat. Presence locations were determined from 15 years of surveys, observations and verified reports. The best bias correction procedure and scale were uncertain, so we employed a novel method of using information from all models across analyses to determine top models and identify influential variables. Leopard presence was most strongly linked to the landscape proportion encompassed by Protected Areas strictly limiting human presence, with more porous Protected Areas less influential. All three forest composition and configuration metrics investigated (area weighted mean patch size, patch density and forest connectivity) were influential, with increased patch size and higher connectivity predicting better habitat suitability for leopards. Habitat suitability was also better where cropland extent and urban patch size were small. In summary, ground-level protection and natural forest extent and connectivity are of profound importance to Sri Lankan leopard distribution and are key factors in ensuring the ecological integrity of the island’s faunal assemblages.

Monitoring is an indispensable tool for assessment of the state of species both locally and globally. The monitoring of bryophyte species has started quite recently and there is need for uniform methods that can be applied in different countries to get comparable results to give a basis for more effective species conservation. Here we present three general monitoring methods that are suitable for all European bryophytes. The method of permanent squares is used for long-lived species inhabiting stable communities on the ground or large rocks. The method of counting separated substrate units is used for species inhabiting tree trunks, boulders or large pieces of decaying wood. The method of sampling is used for short-lived species in unstable communities and for species that are difficult to identify with a hand-lens. The selection of species and sites to be monitored is discussed. Assessment of the current conservational state of the species depends on the state of habitats at monitoring plots that are defined through character and rate of threats, and change of population size compared with previous and first monitoring events. The three monitoring methods are illustrated with examples based on Estonian monitoring experiences. Suggestions of monitoring methods for bryophyte species belonging to the EU Habitat Directive are given.

The objective of the present paper is to provide a holistic framework to delineate “territories of opportunity” where agrarian communities can manage areas to enhance the conservation of large vertebrates. The study was conducted Mexico, which is sociologically, culturally and ecologically complex, similar to other “megadiverse” countries. We conducted ensemble niche modeling of endangered top predators to define a set of large vertebrate species. Environmental attributes were used to perform three distance-based and two artificial intelligence-based algorithms. Socio-cultural attributes were included to depict agricultural communities with strong social government schemes and clear evidence of well-managed natural resources. Other socio-economic attributes such as land acquisition cost, human agglomeration and anthropogenic land use were included in the analysis. Scenarios were computed and displayed cartographically with the aid of a geographic information system. Results showed that the largest concentration of biodiversity converges on regions with large land cover persistence and high local governance, defined as potential willingness to engage in conservation actions. The cartographic areas identified overlapped with current Mexican protected areas in only 2.7% of the country. Thus, conservation law enforcement in most of the country seems to be ineffective. Here we show that, in a number of territories, agrarian communities that have coexisted for millennia with umbrella species can be regarded as allies in biodiversity conservation. Results are discussed in the light of their relevance for future niche modeling, environmental policy design and implications for climate change.

Charles Elton proposed that high species diversity and low levels of disturbance provide a measure of biotic resistance against invasions by alien species. While there is some evidence for this hypothesis, there are numerous other factors associated with invasive species richness, and the strength of those relationships is often scale-dependent. Among oceanic island groups, habitat diversity, human population size and economic activity have been identified as among the significant drivers of invasive species richness. However, intra-island patterns are rarely analyzed. We investigate the relationship between the number of invasive seed plant species and human, physical and biotic factors among municipalities of the tropical island of Puerto Rico using Generalized Linear Models. While elevation amplitude and, to a lesser extent, area had significant effects on the diversity of the most abundant invasive species, we found that the best models, according to Akaike Information Criterion, consistently involve a positive relationship between the number of invasive and native species. Moreover, when we examined the relationship between forest reserves and those regions without reserves, proportionately fewer invasive species occur in forest reserves where native species richness is higher, resource competition is presumably greater, and human impacts are no longer as pervasive. Because the invasive species pool consists almost entirely of ruderal species, forest reserves, while not impenetrable, are less susceptible to invasions than the heavily human-impacted landscapes. Consequently, forest reserves may play an important role in slowing the pace of biological invasions on tropical islands.

Detailed knowledge of habitat requirements is an essential prerequisite for efficient conservation of any endangered species. Despite the grain support beetle Aegosoma scabricorne (Cerambycidae) being one of the largest European beetles, and an endangered, disappearing, species in Central Europe, its bionomics remain relatively poorly known. A. scabricorne is known as a polyphagous species on broadleaved trees; thus, to investigate its habitat preferences 174 broadleaved trees (87 occupied and 87 unoccupied by the species) were surveyed in the area of southern Moravia (Czech Republic) in 2015. The species was found to be strongly associated with declining or freshly dead trees that are, preferably, further damaged (breakage of stem or primary branch, hollows, etc.) and it particularly thrives on large trees (diameter >50 cm). Surprisingly, stem exposure to the sun was shown to be an unimportant characteristic for this species. However, in this study the number of exit holes was significantly smaller on the shaded north-facing quarter of the stem. Our results suggest concrete conservation measures to support the species. We also suggest that this species may be used as an umbrella species for saproxylic beetles of European lowland forests.

Distribution and connectivity of suitable habitat for species of conservation concern is critical for effective conservation planning. Capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus), an umbrella species for biodiversity conservation, is increasingly threatened because of habitat loss and fragmentation. We assessed the impact of drastic changes in forest management in the Carpathian Mountains, a major stronghold of capercaillie in Europe, on habitat distribution and connectivity. We used field data surveys with a forest disturbance dataset for 1985–2010 to map habitat suitability, and we used graph theory to analyse habitat connectivity. Climate, topography, forest proportion and fragmentation, and the distance to roads and settlements best identified capercaillie presence. Suitable habitat area was 7510 km2 in 1985; by 2010, clear-cutting had reduced that area by 1110 km2. More suitable habitat was lost inside protected areas (571 km2) than outside (413 km2). Habitat loss of 15 % reduced functional connectivity by 33 % since 1985. Forest management, particularly large-scale clear-cutting and salvage logging, have substantially diminished and fragmented suitable capercaillie habitat, regardless of the status of forest protection. Consequently, larger areas with suitable habitat are now isolated and many patches are too small to sustain viable populations. Given that protection of capercaillie habitat would benefit many other species, including old-growth specialists and large carnivores, conservation actions to halt the loss of capercaillie habitat is urgently needed. We recommend adopting policies to protect natural forests, limiting large-scale clear-cutting and salvage logging, implementing ecological forestry, and restricting road building to reduce forest fragmentation.

The effective conservation of species requires some understanding of where populations occur in a landscape. Gaps in this knowledge base (the “Wallacean Shortfall” of some authors) may coincide with hotspots of diversity for different plant and animal species, requiring the cooperation of a number of different federal, state, local and non-governmental agencies for effective conservation. In this example, the distribution and abundance of benthic macroinvertebrates are widely used as metrics for water quality monitoring, but far less is known about these organisms qua species (taxonomic orders EPT—Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and Trichoptera). In this study, we inventoried a network of individual US National Park units for species in these orders. These parks are located in geological, ecological and historical places of interest across the states of Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. We sampled these parks in a multi-year intensive inventory in order to determine the composition of the aquatic insect fauna in each park. Since there are no comprehensive accounts of the geographic ranges of these species, we compiled published accounts of species occurrences in these and adjacent states (Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, West Virginia) to construct a potential species pool for each state. This pool comprised our best estimate of the EPT species that might potentially occur in each state. We used these source pools to test null hypotheses on whether parks disproportionately under- or over-protect species in different categories of risk of imperilment. We find that parks have fewer rare (G1) species than expected from a null model, and parks over-protect some of the most common (G5) species in the network. This pattern would be expected if the actual landscape distributions of the most imperiled (G1) species are small and/or disjunct and tend to occur outside of the national parks in the region. Interactions between park shape (and size) and individual species geographic ranges are likely to influence the precision of estimates of the potential species pool within a protected area. More research is needed on the distribution of imperiled species across the entire geographic range of species, and the traditional practice of compilation and reporting of occurrence records by state is not sufficient for informed conservation practice. State natural heritage programs and biodiversity conservation database efforts (e.g. NatureServe) implicitly recognize the importance of species ranges, but our analysis demonstrates the need to assess these patterns at a finer spatial grain in order for these state lists to serve as meaningful expectations of the composition of species assemblages. Our analysis considers only a tiny fraction of the protected lands in the region, and an enormous additional area of protected lands exists where many of these rare species occur. More precise and accurate reporting of EPT species occurrences in this region will allow resource managers to target the conservation of particular species within single parks, or across protected area networks.

Charismatic megafauna have been used as icons and financial drivers of conservation efforts worldwide given that they are useful surrogates for biodiversity in general. However, tests of this premise have been constrained by data limitations, especially at large scales. Here we overcome this problem by combining large-scale citizen-sourced data with intensive expert observations of two endangered charismatic species, Blakiston’s fish owl (forest specialist) and the red-crowned crane (wetland specialist). We constructed large-scale maps of species richness for 52 forest and 23 grassland/wetland bird species using hierarchical community modeling and citizen-sourced data at 1, 2, 5, and 10-km grid resolutions. We compared the species richness of forest and grassland/wetland birds between the breeding and non-breeding sites of the two charismatic birds at each of the four spatial resolutions, and then assessed the scale dependency of the biodiversity surrogates. Regardless of the habitat amounts, owl and crane breeding sites had higher forest and grassland/wetland bird species richness, respectively. However, this surrogacy was more effective at finer scales (1–2-km resolutions), which corresponds to the charismatic species’ home range sizes (up to 9.4 ± 2.0 km2 for fish owls, and 3–4 km2 for cranes). Species richness showed the highest spatial variations at 1–2-km resolutions. We suggest that the agreement of functional scales between surrogate species and broader biodiversity is essential for successful surrogacy, and that habitat conservation and restoration targeting multiple charismatic species with different specialties can complement to biodiversity conservation.

Sustainable conservation of tropical resources required understanding of their distribution for effective assessment and definition of conservation priorities. In tropical areas, wild palms are highly valued keystone resources with growing demand for both subsistence uses and commercial trade. Here we focused on eight such species (Borassus aethiopum Mart., Eremospatha macrocarpa (G.Mann & H.Wendl.) H.Wendl., Hyphaene thebaica Mart., Laccosperma opacum (G.Mann & H.Wendl.) Drude, Phoenix reclinata Jacq., Raphia hookeri G.Mann & H.Wendl., Raphia sudanica A. Chev., and Raphia vinifera P.Beauv.). This study tested (i) how those palms distributions may be affected under future climate scenarios, and (ii) if species are effectively conserved currently and under future forecasts for their native distributional areas. Finally, we defined spatial priorities for the species’ conservation. Available bioclimatic and soil data layers were used for the modelling with maximum entropy approaches, and resulting maps were overlaid on the existing protected areas network. Results showed that much of the distribution of the species will remain largely stable, albeit with some expansion and retraction in some species; relationships with protected areas networks suggest that protected portions of species distributions will also remain stable. The areas identified as highest conservation priority differ between models even though the highest-priority areas holding most palm species are located along the coast (from Guinea to Nigeria). Further development of these analyses could aid in forming a more complete picture of the distributions and populations of the species, which in turn could aid in developing effective conservation strategies for this botanically important family.

China has a long history of deforestation and environmental degradation. Because China is also lacking biological reserves, off-reserve conservation is a major contributor to its conservation efforts. Off-reserve conservation in China is primarily being achieved within afforestation and low-intensity agriculture. We compare ant diversity of three habitats: Natural Forest, Disturbed Forest and Plantation, to assess the conservation potential of these multiple land uses. Natural Forest consistently had the greatest plot-level species richness of the three habitats, but this pattern was only statistically significant for arboreal ants. Functional group profiles showed that Specialist Predators were significantly more represented in Disturbed Forest, Opportunists were significantly more represented in one Plantation site, coupled with a lack of Subordinate Camponotini, and Generalised Myrmicinae were more represented in a second Plantation site coupled with a complete lack of Cryptic Species. Multivariate analysis revealed significant differences of ant species composition between habitats. Within IndVal analyses, 17 species were associated with Natural Forest and nine with Plantation. No species were associated with Disturbed Forest. Reforestation and low-intensity agriculture clearly provide habitat for many species, but will not necessarily substitute for undisturbed habitat for many other species, especially specialised species. China’s off-reserve conservation could be enhanced by developing a greater understanding of agricultural practices and reforestation techniques that promote species diversity, especially for uncommon, threatened and specialised species.

In many regions species are declining due to fragmentation and loss of habitat. If species persistence is to be achieved, ecologically informed, effective conservation action is required. Yet it remains a challenge to identify optimal places in a landscape to direct habitat reconstruction and management. Rather than relying on individual landscape metrics, process-based regional scale assessment methodology is needed that focuses primarily on species persistence. This means integrating, according to species' ecology, habitat extent, suitability, quality and spatial configuration. The rapid evaluation of metapopulation persistence (REMP) methodology has been developed for this purpose. However, till now no practical conservation planning application of REMP has been described. By integration of expert ecological knowledge, we extended REMP's capabilities to prioritize conservation action for a highly modified agricultural region of central NSW, Australia based on the metapopulation ecology of 34 fauna species. The region's current capacity to support the species was evaluated in relation to the pre-European state for which there was known viability. Six of the species were found to currently have insufficient habitat to support viable populations. Seeking locations to maximize overall improvement in viability for these species, we prioritized conservation action to locations near the threshold of metapopulation persistence.

We currently have a meager understanding of the species attributes viewed as important for conservation by children, despite the fact that arguments for biodiversity conservation often hinge on the bequest value of species. We conducted a study of children between the ages of 4 and 14 (N = 183) on Andros Island, The Bahamas to determine how they prioritized wildlife species for conservation based on five attributes: endemism, use for hunting and fishing, rapid decline in population size, visibility around their home, and ecological significance. Children tended to rank ecological significance as the most important attribute for prioritizing wildlife for protection, followed closely by endemism, with other attributes being less important and not significantly different from one another. However, participants in a local environmental education program (N = 67) placed greater prioritization to species experiencing rapid population declines. We also found that boys prioritized use for hunting and fishing as more important for conservation than girls, older children placed greater importance on species with declining numbers and less importance on visibility of animals around their house, and children who had previously fished placed greater importance on endemism. These findings help elucidate how children value biodiversity, and suggest children’s conservation priorities may align relatively well with those of conservation biologists, especially after exposure to environmental education. We suggest that better understanding how children prioritize wildlife attributes for conservation can lead to more informed biodiversity conservation decisions and more effective policy implementation, as the perspectives of children can help bridge the gap between public opinion and scientific opinion.

Tropical conservation and research focus primarily on protected areas and often ignore conservation values of surrounding agricultural lands. Understanding how species utilize agricultural land will maximize conservation efforts. We compared bird community composition in four habitats in northeastern Costa Rica: shade-grown cacao, live fences, riparian forest buffers, and preserved late-successional rainforest. Point counts over 2 months found 167 species from 36 families. Rainforest contained the most species unique to a habitat although richness per point was lower than in agricultural habitats. Half, 31, of the rainforest species did not occur in other habitats, while 106 species, mostly those preferring open areas, occurred in agroforest habitats but not rainforest. While agricultural habitats had fairly similar species composition to each other as determined by distance in an ordination, each also contained significant numbers, 9–30, of unique species. While intact rainforest remains central to conservation of tropical birds, agricultural lands with substantial trees, e.g., live fences, riparian buffers, and plantations with shade trees, can support a high richness of birds. These avian communities are not simply subsets of the rainforest species but include substantial numbers of unique species. Conservation contributions of these lands to species richness and complexity should be considered in conservation, and trees in these habitats preserved.

Urbanization is thought to lead to the loss of biodiversity both because of habitat disturbance and the increased abundance of invasive species. However, most studies of biodiversity in cities are conducted on a short time scale, usually less than 3 years, and so miss the long-term dynamics of communities inhabiting these ecosystems. Here we use a study performed in the early 70’s on North Carolina State University (Raleigh, USA) as a baseline to evaluate the long term effects of disturbance and introduced species on native ant communities. Ant species were sampled almost 40 years later using a variety of sampling techniques in order to maximize species collection. Our results show that while the number of exotic species increased, including three major invasive ants, native ant species richness remained high. Furthermore, our survey was able to add several new records for the area considered, in comparison of the 70’s study, for a total of 89 species known from NCSU campus. After comparison with other studies, our results represent one of the most species-rich urban environments monitored and thus open encouraging perspective on how urban ecosystems could contribute to the preservation of the biodiversity of small-bodies organisms such as ants.

Global biodiversity hotspots are rich in endemic insect species, many of which are threatened by the ongoing anthropogenic pressures on their habitats. The Cape region (South Africa) is one of these biodiversity hotspots, maintaining a high number of endemics. However, the ecology of most insect species in this region remains poorly understood. The two Orthoptera species Betiscoides meridionalis and Betiscoides parva are endemic to the Cape region and specialized on restio vegetation. They are threatened by increasing wildfire frequencies and invasions of non-native plant species. However, this information has been inferred from habitat changes, whereas no ecological study on these species has been conducted since they have been described. In order to facilitate conservation management, information on the ecology of these species is urgently required. The aim of our study was (1) to obtain data on the population ecology (particularly population sizes and mobility), and (2) to study the behavior of both species in response to environmental factors. For this purpose a mark-recapture-study and an observational behavior study were conducted. Both species had small population sizes and a low mobility with males moving greater distances than females. Wind had a strong influence on the behavior of Betiscoides, particularly on the small males of B. parva. Future studies might thus focus on the question whether wind-exposure is a critical factor for habitat choice of this species. We strongly recommend enhancing the connectivity of restio habitats and restoring these habitats to prevent extinction of specialized insect species.

The recent decline in pollinator biodiversity, notably in the case of wild bee populations, puts both wild and agricultural ecosystems at risk of ecological community collapse. This has triggered calls for further study of these mutualistic communities in order to more effectively inform restoration of disturbed plant–pollinator communities. Here, we use a dynamic network model to test a variety of translocation strategies for restoring a community after it experiences the loss of some of its species. We consider the reintroduction of extirpated species, both immediately after the original loss and after the community has reequilibrated, as well as the introduction of other native species that were originally absent from the community. We find that reintroducing multiple highly interacting generalist species best restores species richness for lightly disturbed communities. However, for communities that experience significant losses in biodiversity, introducing generalist species that are not originally present in the community may most effectively restore species richness, although in these cases the resultant community often shares few species with the original community. We also demonstrate that the translocation of a single species has a minimal impact on both species richness and the frequency of community collapse. These results have important implications for restoration practices in the face of varying degrees of community perturbations, the refinement of which is crucial for community management.

Predators can create a “landscape of fear” that influences the spatial distribution of their prey. Understanding whether human activity similarly affects the distribution of species beyond habitat suitability is crucial but difficult to assess for conservation managers. Here, we assessed the effect of recreation and forestry activity on a threatened forest-dwelling umbrella species, the Capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus). We followed the citizen science approach on the landscape scale in the Bohemian Forest. We analyzed species data non-invasively collected through intensive fieldwork by volunteers and assessed human activity in the entire study area by analyzing expert questionnaires. The study area extends over 119,000 ha and harbors one of the largest relict populations of this grouse species in Central European low mountain ranges. Our statistical models revealed a negative impact of recreational activities on the intensity of habitat use of the birds within suitable habitats, thereby pointing toward a landscape of fear. The influence of forestry activity, in contrast, was not clear. In comparison to existing regional tourism impact studies, we were able to elevate the examination to the landscape scale. Our results underlined the relevance of recreation in limiting the species’ habitat on an entire landscape and allow us to conclude that habitat managers should set aside well-defined zones without recreational activities to preserve the refuge of this umbrella species.

Because the conservation of biodiversity occurs under time and resource constraints, it is necessary to prioritize species most deserving of attention. Natural history collections have been identified as a valuable source of information in applied conservation practice, particularly for species-rich taxa like plants. Here, online herbarium information was combined with a novel, straightforward priority setting approach to screen a large list of rare vascular plant species (n = 418) in Saskatchewan, Canada. Data was quantified to develop priority scores (for a given species) using three key criteria: (1) provincial responsibility in species survival, (2) species local population characteristics, and (3) the anthropogenic threats causing species to be rare. The use of a hierarchy of the three criteria, wherein provincial responsibility was assigned the most weight, resulted in the highest ranking for 13 species that exist only in Saskatchewan and no other Canadian province or territory. The list is a first step in identifying species deserving of conservation attention and/or further study, while the method itself was deemed to be highly relevant to conservation managers and decision makers due to its scale adaptability and fairly minimal resource requirements.

We discuss the controversial issue of species translocation for conservation, i.e. the intentional moving of a species to a non-native area when the species is threatened by extinction in its native area. Based on an argument inspired by utilitarianism: “a conservation method is good when the number of global extinctions it prevents exceeds the number of global extinctions it causes”, we identify and briefly discuss the answer to two critical research questions, and conclude that translocation has the potential to reduce net decline in global species diversity and therefore should be accepted more widely as a tool for conservation.

The management of protected areas (PAs) is widely used in the conservation of endangered plant species under climate change. However, studies that have identified appropriate PAs for endangered fern species are rare. To address this gap, we must develop a workflow to plan appropriate PAs for endangered fern species that will be further impacted by climate change. Here, we used endangered fern species in China as a case study, and we applied conservation planning software coupled with endangered fern species distribution data and distribution modeling to plan conservation areas with high priority protection needs under climate change. We identified appropriate PAs for endangered fern species under climate change based on the IUCN protected area categories (from Ia to VI) and planned additional PAs for endangered fern species. The high priority regions for protecting the endangered fern species were distributed throughout southern China. With decreasing temperature seasonality, the priority ranking of all endangered fern species is projected to increase in existing PAs. Accordingly, we need to establish conservation areas with low climate vulnerability in existing PAs and expand the conservation areas for endangered fern species in the high priority conservation regions. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s40064-016-2588-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The invasion or expansion of non-native species into new geographic areas can pose a major threat to the conservation of biodiversity. These threats are augmented when the newly-arrived species interacts with native species that are already threatened by other ecological or anthropogenic processes. Potential interactions can include both competition for scarce resources and reproductive interference, including hybridisation. Understanding the dynamics of these interactions forms a crucial component of conservation management strategies. A recent contact zone occurs in the north of Chile between the endangered Chilean woodstar (Eulidia yarrellii) and the closely-related and recently-arrived Peruvian sheartail (Thaumastura cora), which expanded its range from Peru into Chile during the 1970s. We characterised the interactions between the species by combining population size estimates with molecular, morphological and behavioural data. We show that a low degree of hybridisation, but not introgression, is occurring between the two species. Despite interspecific morphological similarities, behavioural observations indicate that food niche overlap between the species is relatively low, and that the dietary breadth of sheartails is larger, which may have aided the species’ range expansion. Finally, woodstars dominate the sheartails in male–male territorial interactions. However, potentially increased energetic costs for woodstars associated with frequent territorial chases and courtship displaying with sheartails may exacerbate the effects of other threats on woodstar viability, such as human-induced habitat modification. This study highlights the value of implementing multidisciplinary approaches in conservation biology to gain a more complete understanding of interactions between recently-arrived and endangered species.

Current knowledge is not sufficient to define extinction risk of Data Deficient (DD) species, and conservation planners may keep them out of conservation assessments and planning. However, systematic conservation planning may benefit with the inclusion of these species because they lead to more comprehensive conservation actions. Here, we investigated how the inclusion of DD species alters the spatial configuration of protected areas networks, using Atlantic forest amphibians as a case study. To investigate the influence of DD species inclusion, we developed three spatial conservation planning scenarios aiming to represent: (1) all threatened species; (2) all threatened species plus all DD species; and (3) all threatened species plus 30 % of DD species, following the pro- portion of threatened amphibian species worldwide. Our results show that the inclusion of DD species alters the spatial configuration of protected areas networks. Furthermore, there is a pattern with most cells in both planning scenarios for DD species being concentrated in the northern region of the Atlantic Forest. These cells are congruent with localities with recent description of DD species and might indicate sites with high potential for new species discoveries. The inclusion of DD species in systematic conservation planning may help to preserve important ecological traits and evolutionary features of biodiversity and indicate sites with high potential for future assessments and surveys. The use of DD species in conservation planning may help us to defy the Linnean shortfall and improve our knowledge about biodiversity.

Conservation of biodiversity is a major aim of marine reserves; however the effects of reserves on non-native species, a major threat to biodiversity globally, is not widely known. Marine reserves could resist non-native species due to enhanced native diversity and biomass that heightens biotic resistance. Or non-native species could be enhanced by reserves by at least three mechanisms, including protection from harvesting, increased fishing pressure outside reserves facilitating invasions at a regional scale and increasing the exposure of reserves to more potential invaders, and increased propagule pressure from human visitation. We exhaustively searched the literature and found 13 cases that contained quantitative data on non-native species inside and outside marine reserves. In no cases did reserves resist non-native species. Of the seven cases where reserves were established prior to the arrival of the non-native species, five had no effect on the non-native species and two enhanced non-native species. Of the six cases where reserves were established in areas that had pre-existing non-native species, two had no effect on the non-native species and four enhanced the non-native species. These results suggest that while non-native species do equally well or better within marine reserves, too few data are currently available to draw broad, general conclusions regarding the effects of marine reserves on non-native species. Management plans for marine reserves rarely include guidelines for preventing or managing non-native species. If the trends we have detected here are supported by future studies, non-native species should be a priority for management of marine reserves.

Regulatory legislation by governments is essential for facilitating the recovery of endangered or threatened species. Protecting commercially exploited species, in particular, requires painstaking cooperation among vested parties. However, rules protecting one species may be detrimental to others. If an exploited species is only protected in a portion of its range, exploitative efforts may divert to unprotected portions or similarly valuable species. As a result, the good intentions of protecting species in a limited fashion may manifest a species-loss domino-effect. We illustrate a species-loss domino-effect using a current example from the Mississippi River basin of the United States, where roe fisheries (for caviar) have cascaded because of strict regulations and collapses of sturgeon stocks in Europe and Asia. In the Mississippi River basin the limited protection of a commercially important sturgeon species may increase exploitation in unprotected river reaches and threaten other economically important fishes. Although a species-loss domino-effect is delineated herein using an example from a freshwater fishery in the central United States, the concept should be considered and applied to terrestrial and marine species worldwide.

Target two of the 2002 Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC), “A preliminary assessment of the conservation status of all known plant species, at national, regional, and international levels” was not accomplished by its original 2010 target date and has therefore been included as a revised 2020 target, “An assessment of the conservation status of all known plant species, as far as possible, to guide conservation action.” The most widely used system to estimate risk of extinction, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature Red List, provides conservation assessments for fewer than 15,000 plant species. Progress achieving Target two has been hampered by the large number of plant species and the difficulty assembling the data needed for Red List assessments. Two streamlined methods for identifying those plant species considered At Risk under the GSPC Target two are compared and contrasted. Both methods use readily available locality data from herbarium specimens to efficiently identify At Risk species and approximate the list of species that would be identified as threatened by Red List analyses. A comprehensive analysis of the native plant species of Puerto Rico using both streamlined methods identifies 570 of the 2,025 species at some risk of extinction. More efficient systems for assessing threat allow a more timely response to Target two, allow conservation efforts to be directed to the species that need attention, and the list of threatened plants can be used to identify priority areas for plant conservation.

Species for restoration forestry on degraded lands in the tropics are often restricted to a few well-known exotic timber species. This selection frequently leads to failed projects, as local people expect trees to cover a number of uses, not only timber. We studied local knowledge of the usefulness, scarcity and importance for wildlife of native tree species in central Veracruz, Mexico, a region with mainly secondary vegetation and remnants of tropical dry forest. Data were obtained from several workshops, in depth interviews of 40 key informants, field walks with informants, and botanical collections. Analysis included indices for cultural importance, scarcity and wildlife relevance. We documented 76 species in one or more of the categories, from primary, secondary, agroforestry and riparian habitats. Fabaceae was the most important family. All of the species were useful for humans, mainly for rural construction, food, fence posts and fuel. Two-thirds of the species were considered scarce though they were not necessarily rare—some were highly useful, overexploited species with populations insufficient for demand; this category included five of the ten most important species culturally. Also, two-thirds of the tree taxa were considered important for wildlife, especially species of Moraceae. The study shows that the local population is highly aware of the varying functions of trees in the landscape. However, few of the important species are available from regional nurseries. We propose a number of species for restoration forestry, agroforestry systems and enrichment plantings that would be valued by landowners.

Dune and heathland ecosystems can harbour a multitude of specialized insect species. To assess the habitat quality of these ecosystems, the presence of specialized insect species may act as a useful indicator. The Orthoptera species Myrmeleotettix maculatus, Decticus verrucivorus, and Platycleis albopunctata present such umbrella species. Because knowledge of oviposition and nymphal habitats of these species is insufficient, we conducted a combined study consisting of an outdoor oviposition experiment and a field survey analyzing nymphal habitat preferences during summer 2009 on the Baltic island of Hiddensee, Germany. The oviposition experiment showed, that all three species mostly avoid oviposition under lichens (= mature grey dunes). M. maculatus preferred bare ground for oviposition, D. verrucivorus favoured both bare ground and mosses, and P. albopunctata laid most eggs into mosses. Young nymphs of both M. maculatus and P. albopunctata preferred initial grey dunes with a high proportion of bare ground and moss-rich grey dunes. Old nymphs were related to moss-rich and lichen-rich grey dunes with more dense vegetation. Based on our results, early seral stages of dune succession with bare ground and mosses as keystone structures are crucial for the conservation of the three studied umbrella species. Because old nymphs and adults additionally require more dense grey dune vegetation or adjacent heath stands, practical dune and heathland management measures should aim to maintain a mosaic-like pattern of different grey dune and dwarf-shrub vegetation stands.

Although there is much research showing a strong negative effect of habitat fragmentation and deterioration on the viability of different insect populations and on species richness, the effect of fragmentation is modified by other local and landscape factors. One of the most substantial gaps in knowledge is whether species are similar in their response to the same environmental factors and if their response mirrors response of the entire community. From the conservation point of view this knowledge is of primary importance in planning conservation actions, yet these studies are rare. In this paper we test the relative effects of habitat patch and landscape characteristics on butterflies inhabiting calcareous grasslands in southern Poland. Butterfly species richness and abundance were positively affected by patch size and wind shelter. In the case of species richness there was also a positive effect of plant species richness. Butterfly diversity was enhanced in wind sheltered patches, and commonness (non-rarity) enhanced by distance to buildings and by shorter vegetation. Multivariate analysis suggested differences in the responses of individual species to the examined environmental variables, with some species more responsive to patch size and shelter and others to sward height. The conservation of butterfly communities requires sensible and complex management to ensure high habitat diversity. The most important challenge for future studies on calcareous grasslands is to formulate a model of management that guarantees high species richness and conservation of each individual species.

Many endemic tree species have important scientific, ecological and economic value but the scarcity of information about their biological and ecological features makes it difficult to develop conservation strategies for them. A four-step approach is presented to address this problem, based on the analysis of data collected in a limited-duration field study: (1) Data collected are used to analyse the ecological niche, population structure and regeneration status of the species in question. (2) Several IUCN Red List (RL) parameters, useful for assessing the species’ risk of extinction, are measured, including population counts, number of locations, extent and area of occurrence. (3) The IUCN RL parameters are used together with the other information gathered to set preliminary conservation priorities. (4) The analysis of utilization pattern is used to develop conservation actions specific to the environmental and socio-economic context. To test the applicability of this approach Boswellia spp. of Socotra island were analysed. Ground-rooted species (B. ameero, B. elongata and B. socotrana) were the most abundant and widespread and, according to the spatial analysis, were characterised by a geo-altitudinal zonation. However, the Weibull functions fitted on their stem diameters, and the absence or presence of only a small number of saplings highlighted a poor regeneration status. In the absence of conservation actions, these species will probably be subject to a progressive decline because of uncontrolled grazing. Of the four cliff-rooted species, which grow in sites that are less accessible to livestock, two (B. popoviana and B. dioscorides) were of lower conservation priority and may become the most numerically abundant. Conversely, the other two (B. nana and B. bullata), which may be threatened by stochastic events because of their reduced populations and small number of locations, were considered of very high priority. Different conservation actions were then identified for each species. In particular, for Boswellia species producing gum, the conservation-through-use action was discussed as a potential option.

Misrepresentation of terminology is a major impediment for attempts at enhancing public conservation literacy. Despite being critically important for improving conservation practice, there have been few systematic analyses of the popular use of conservation terminology. This paper draws from science communication studies and metaphor analysis, to examine how keystone, flagship and umbrella species concepts are used and represented in non-academic contexts. 557 news articles containing these terms were systematically analyzed. Mammals featured in 60% of articles on keystones, 55% on flagships and 63% on umbrella species. Number of articles explaining the terms keystone (35%) and flagship (31%) was low, and keystones were the most misrepresented term. Keystones were metaphorically linked with balance, flagships with representation and umbrella species with protection. These metaphors influenced public interpretation of scientific terminology, oriented actions towards select species, and led to a valuation of such actions. Together, the findings highlight three important aspects of popular use of conservation terminology: (1) communication is largely biased towards mammals, (2) everyday language plays a vital role in the interpretation of concepts, and (3) metaphors influence peoples’ actions and understanding. Conservation biologists need to engage with issues of language if public conservation literacy is to be improved. Further evaluations of concepts with high public and policy relevance, systematic identification of communication shortfalls, and linguistic assessments prior to promoting new terms are potential ways of achieving this.

Conservation policies of the European Nature 2,000 network reflect an overarching concern about alleged negative effects of abandonment of traditional uses. In particular, the abandonment of livestock herding is widely assumed to be responsible of biodiversity decreases through habitat homogenization. However, those negative effects of land abandonment on biodiversity are neither straightforward nor the repeatedly assumed land abandonment has been always supported by hard data. We analyzed the evolution of cattle densities in the Cantabrian Mountains (NW Spain) in the past 20 years, and its relation with the decline in the occupancy of capercaillie leks. Instead of the widely-assumed decrease of livestock numbers, which has been already incorporated into landscape and wildlife management, we found an actual increase in cattle numbers. Those cattle numbers were negatively related to the presence of an endangered, distinctive population of capercaillie, a bird considered an umbrella species in mountain forest ecosystems. Thus our data do not support the alleged role of free-ranging livestock in the conservation of biodiversity. We consider that typological thinking in the relationship of socio-economic changes and biodiversity conservation should be replaced by hard data and consideration of ecosystem naturalness.

Conservation shortcuts such as umbrella species have been long used for regional protection of species whose distributions are poorly known. Although the European large carnivores—brown bear, gray wolf, and Eurasian lynx—might seem to be robust candidates as umbrella species, their actual effectiveness has been challenged. We used 10-km resolution distribution maps of mammals (n = 10) and birds (n = 55) of European conservation concern in the Romanian Carpathians, and a temporal sequence of land cover maps (1990, 2000, and 2006) to examine: (1) the spatial overlap in distribution between large carnivores and bird and mammal species of conservation concern, (2) changes in forest cover for the Romanian Carpathians during the post-communist period in relation to the distribution of species, and (3) priority conservation areas using carnivores as umbrella species. Approximately 55% of the bird and 80% of mammals species included in this study would potentially benefit from using large carnivores as conservation surrogates. The changes in forest cover during 1990–2006 were concentrated in the Eastern Carpathians, where up to 45% of the forest per mapping unit was clearcut during the study period. Implicitly, the areas of occupancy of the background species were most disturbed by clearcutting in the Eastern Carpathians. We propose that the large carnivores could act temporary as umbrella species in areas that are still relatively undisturbed, such as Southern and Southwestern Carpathians. This alternative conservation strategy will allow time for (1) the new established protected areas to start efficiently and (2) the forestry practices to switch from mostly uncontrolled clearcutting, lacking landscape scale management to ecologically-based practices.

Setting aside parcels of land is the main conservation strategy to reduce the rate of biodiversity loss worldwide. Because funding for biological conservation is limited, it is important to distinguish the most efficient ways to use it. Here, we assess implications of alternative measures to conserve biodiversity in managed boreal forest landscapes. We calculated four alternative spatio-temporal scenarios and compared these to the current management regime over 100-year time period. In the alternative scenarios, a fixed amount of funding was invested in (1) permanent large reserves (each tens of ha in size), (2) permanent small reserves (each a few ha in size), (3) temporary small reserves (based on 10-year contracts with private land owners), and (4) green-tree retention (small groups of trees retained on clear-cuts). To assess biodiversity implications, we used habitat suitability indices to calculate overall habitat availability for five groups of red-listed and habitat-specific species associated with decaying spruce logs. The possibilities for timber harvests did not differ among the scenarios, but biodiversity performance was different. The scenarios with permanent reserves tended to outperform other scenarios, suggesting that conservation policies based on permanent reserves are the most cost-efficient in the long term. Results, however, varied among time scales and species groups. In the short term, a strategy of investment in temporary small reserves was the most efficient. Habitat for species associated with old spruce dead-wood and preferring shade was rare throughout all simulations, and therefore, it is likely that these species cannot be sustained in managed forests. Species that live on fresh dead-wood and are associated with forest edges coped well in all scenarios suggesting that such species will persist in managed landscapes without additional conservation efforts. Explicit definition of conservation objectives and time frames for conservation action are thus prerequisites for successful conservation planning.

In this study, we combine species distribution models with a reserve selection approach to assess the degree of representation of xenarthrans in the existing protected area network of Argentina, and to identify conservation priority areas that may help expand the current system. Species distribution models were developed from species’ occurrence records using a maximum entropy algorithm. Maps of species distributions were produced for 15 of the 16 species currently present in the country. To assess the performance of the existing protected area network in representing all modeled species, and to identify priority areas to expand the current reserve system, we used the software Zonation. Overall, all species modeled are represented in the existing protected area network. However, the percentage of their ranges covered by protected areas is very low (average = 6.7%; range = 1.7–17.6%). To represent at least 5% of the distribution of each species, 8.8% of the country’s area would be needed, and species with restricted ranges have the greatest increase in representation in this scenario. When 10% of the country is set aside for conservation, species representation increases considerably, again favoring range-restricted species. Most of the areas identified as conservation priorities are under strong anthropogenic pressures, including deforestation, agricultural expansion, and hunting. Our analysis provides a preliminary assessment of conservation priorities for the xenarthrans of Argentina, and we hope will serve as guideline to focus future conservation assessments at more refined scales., Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo

A butterfly species inventory of the Bifeng Valley within the Baishuijiang Natural Reserve in Gansu Province in China was conducted and several aspects of biodiversity were analyzed in a biogeographical context. One hundred and eighty-four species have been encountered belonging to 12 families and 99 genera. According to the total area of the Bifeng Valley of 30 km², an estimated density of six butterfly species per km² can be regarded as particularly high. A transect study in Bifeng Valley, aimed to quantify anthropogenic impact and the influence of remaining natural habitat on the occurrence of butterfly species and individuals. With higher levels of human disturbance and corresponding decreasing amount of natural habitat species numbers and overall butterfly abundance decreased. First suggestions on the inclusion of the rarest species in the area into certain conservation categories are provided. This is intended as a starting point to highlight conservation necessities and deficiencies in areas which are easily ignored as these are only rarely highlighted in an national and even more so in an international context.